republicans and i don't think it appeals to the whole country. mike bloomberg, the mayor of new york, said a tea party is understandable, but it's not a governing strategy or a way to govern. he predicted the tea party will be short-lived. >> i think the influence would need to be merged with the public party, and i would hope by 2012, their big influence will dissipate. >> as it stands now, the tea party is leaving established candidates in the dust. susan collins of maine is calling out, saying, it is a new and shocking development to have a member of our congo posing incumbent republicans. >> we don't know a lot about christine o'donnell, but here's what we do know.

she'll fit right in in washington. o'donnell spends money she doesn't have, hired employees she didn't pay. didn't pay her taxes. a thina jones is in washington ahead of the campaign. >> certainly the white house can't ignore the tea party. they can't ignore the kind of enthusiasm that has helped these tea party backed candidates win their primaries. people like christine o'donnell in delaware, like joe miller in alaska and rahm paul in kentucky. but many believe these tea party candidates are too extreme, their ideas are too far outside the mainstream for voters to feel comfortable with. so they want to point out these contrasts and say democrats have taken us in the last two years is where we want to continue to go. we know there is a ways to go in

produ reducing unemployment rates, but they think it will take the company backwards in a reverse direction. >> the president is attending a campaign party for sestak today. how does the white house pick the races in which the president is going to get involved as opposed to the ones where he's not going to show up for those candidates? >> well, certainly there is a lot of things that they're considering when they decide where to send the president. they want to send him to places where they believe he'll be effective, and certainly you have some races in some areas where the candidate doesn't really want to be tied too closely to the president because of the region they're in and what the voters there want to see. but in a place like here, philadelphia, you have a race with sestak and pat toomey and it's a pretty tight race. you have a lot of democrats

across the state of pennsylvania, so they're sending him here for two events today, a fundraiser followed by a dinner, ask then later the fundraiser for the democratic committee expected to raise $1 million. so the idea is to send him out and try to rattle the base, because if democrats can shake voters out of their appeathy, they'll do just fine in november. >> my big question today. why are we seeing so much enthusiasm for the tea party's message of freedom and small government? i'd like to hear your thoughts on t. you can reach me on twitter, on facebook. my e-mail address is contess contessa@msnbc.com. breaking news right now coming to us in manhattan, new york. you're seeing now the black smoke that is reported from a wooden trestle under the metro

north tracks over harlem river. this would be the train tracks that take trains, the metro north trains coming in from the noerp pa northern part of new york and even new jersey, brings them right into grand central station. apparently there is a fire right now, and we're seeing some of that black smoke. apparently it has somewhat disrupted the traffic in and out of grand central. so looking for more information on this story. when i get it, i'll pass it along. he's getting almost as much security as president obama. iran's ahmadinejad is giving a speech at the united nations this week and he reportedly is getting bullet-proof windows in his motel, metal windows for the other guests and authorities on stand-by in case they have to rescue ahmadinejad. sarah shourd is using ahmadinejad's visit as a platform to press him to release her fiance and her friend still in iranian custody for trespassing in that territory. >> i stand before you today only

one-third free. that was the last thing that josh said to me before i walked through the prison doors. josh and shane felt one-third free at that moment, and so did i. >> ali arusi is here in new york to cover the annual meeting of world leaders. do you think ahmadinejad will address this situation at all f when he gives his speech or play upon reporters? >> he's going to touch on it. he had a major job in iran getting this done, so he wants to be seen as a compassionate hugh man tear yanz and maybe make a deal to try to get the iranian prisoners out of u.s. jails, which seems unlikely. >> he is under threat for not participating with international atomic nuclear investigators. what has been his method so far and will he stick to it this time around? >> he always says that iran has no intention of building a

nuclear bomb, that the program is purely peaceful and he'll play on that here. last night he made a speech as well saying the future belongs tie ran but we're not trying to build a nuclear bomb. but he wants to come here and say that he's being browbeaten by the west, that this is all unfair, that iran is being treated unfairly. but how well that's going to go down remains to be seen. >> there are so many world leaders who frown on his visit to new york. who are his allies at the united nations? who will he get support from? >> his allies are dwindling. he's always had close relations are russia, china, russia is backing off from iran. he's always going on about iran being very independent but they're becoming more and more isolated rather than independent these days. >> i understand there are protests planned ahead of this speech, and during the speech we've seen it before when he has visited new york city. is that likely to have any effect on him whatsoever? >> i think he relishes that. he comes here and doesn't mind

being the villain here. he has an audience he plays to in the non-alignment of people. i don't think he would like it if he was particularly supported by people here. >> being ignored might be even worse. ali, thank you. new york holds its meeting with islamic leaders that meet this week. they held a conference to announce how they plan to help ease tensions over the proposed islamic center at ground zero. >> we call upon local and national elected officials to join their colleagues in denouncing and rejecting inflammatory rhetoric that endangers the lives of muslim americans. >> plans to build the center a few blocks from ground zero has sparked outrage and protests on both sides of the debate. the summit wraps up today. crews are battling a fire that started at a firing range

during a training session for the national guard. now that fire is it raging across hundreds of acres today about 30 miles outside salt lake city. firefighters are racing to try to stop it before it reaches more than the four homes it's already burned. >> it happened as soon as it came over the top of the ridge, it just took off and flew down the hill. that's why i was freaking out. i called 911 and said, hey, we got 100-foot wall of flames coming down the hill. get some resources over here right now. >> the fire forced more than 1600 residents to flee their homes this weekend. breaking news coming from harlem. the metro service we're told has been suspended in and out of grand central station because of a major fire in harlem. this is a major commuter center in new york city. it's how so many people get in and out of the city for their jobs, and you can see the black smoke that is rising.

we're told it may be a fire under a wooden train trestle. we're working on getting that information. when we get more, so will you. right now hurricane igor is pulling away from bermuda. the storm lashed the tourist destination overnight and early this morning as a category 1 hurricane. igor, once a category 4 monster, battered the island with high winds and furious waves sparking widespread power outages. weather channel's meteorologist jim cantore has this report from the beach. >> in addition to the sun coming out for the first time in three days, the best news is no reports of major injury or loss of life. that is fantastic news coming out of bermuda, especially with the hit we took last night. check this out. as we look over the water, we had 20 to 40-foot waves yesterday pounding these beaches, dark gray water, and now look, just an absolutely beautiful blue. you would not know i hurricane rolled over here last night and

lasted for just over 36 hours. amazing, to say the least. the bad news is we got considerable reports to damage to the power system. that's going to take a while before they get things back in order there. so as quick as the first responders could get out and start cleaning up the debris on the road, which there is a lot, the workers right behind them trying to repair the power and the bridge that was out last night. the power starting to become regenerated on the island. six-sevenths lost power because of the storm. the scar of the hurricane will definitely be the beach erosion and what was a wonderful summer on this beautiful island. back to you. take a look at south texas where what's left of hurricane karl dumped nine inches of rain over the weekend. classes were canceled at several area schools.

with a mid-term election just 43 days away, candidates are kicking up their campaign. that includes this man. pennsylvania congressman jo sestak. we'll talk to him about president obama's visit later today. lady gaga sachets into the world of politics, and we're going to tell you what issue has her so fired up she's heading for northern new england. after using rogaine for a while, i went to my stylist and she said hair was growing back... i was like, yes, this works... [ male announcer ] only rogaine is proven to regrow hair in 85% of guys. puhh puhh puhh putt and that's it. [ male announcer ] stop losing. start gaining.

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. breaking news right now from manhattan. there is a fire in harlem that has shut down major train service in and out of the city. right now the fire is happening, we're told, on about 126th street -- the -- i'm sorry -- the 138th street bridge, and that carries all the metro north

trains in and out of manhattan. metro north is one of the major commuter lines that brings people in from north of the city and even on the new jersey side of the river. so apparently the train service has all been suspended. the black smoke you're seeing a result of this major fire under a bridge there. firefighters are desperately working as we speak trying to extinguish the flames. so that's the most immediate concern, is how do you get the flames out? let me bring in marge ree anders right now. she's a metro spokesperson. how does the metro service stand in the way of train service? >> we haven't had any train service since 11:45 this morning when the fire was reported. as you can see from the pictures on the news, this is a major fire on the manhattan side underneath the 138th street bridge. it carries all four tracks, the hudson and new haven line. it appears what's in the fire is

the wood pilings in the river that's intended to connect the metal supersprtructure from the bridge, from boats. we have firefighters on the scene, we have police on the scene, but the reports are very sketchy on damage. >> are you saying there could be a risk of the support structure for the bridge itself catching fire, or is this just -- >> the fire is under the bridge. whenever there is a fire urnder the bridge, the bridge itself is at risk. i do not know the extent, if any, damage. but you can see from the picture there is a major fire, so it's too early to say whether the bridge itself is damaged. >> do you have an estimate how many commuters this is affecting as we speak? >> probably several thousand. we have about 270,000 people that rely on metro north every day. and at the moment, it's an

off-peak period, but we have several thousand people en route one way or another. >> as far as you know, has anybody been injured? >> no, no injuries. >> marjorie, i know this is a very busy time for you, but i appreciate it. >> thank you. bye bye. >> just as the trains cross any manhattan from the bronx, there is apparently a fire under the bridge. the wooden pilings that protect the bridge from boat traffic has caught fire, and as the firefighters are desperately working to get that fire out, there is no train service from metro north in and out of manhattan. this is four major lines that come into manhattan. we heard from the spokesperson several thousand people currently affected. president obama will get on air force one and head to philadelphia. now the president is supporting sestak. he tried to get him to bow out

of the preliminary against arlen specter. congressman joe sestak joins me now. congressman, good to see you. >> good to be back, kochb tes sa. >> how kt president at this point help you tie up the race? >> he's making it very clear as he comes into philadelphia what the stakes are with this race. congressman toomey, which is the the epitome of what's wrong with washington found a special interests group. but his special purpose, which has actually led to the extreme elements of the tea party today, was to purge the republican party of moderate republicans. so a toomey-led team in the senate, an extreme fringe element of the republican party, is another movement in that deep freeze of the senate to where soon hell will freeze over because there is this extreme

view that benefit wall street, benefit corporations and the dire consequences for the middle class that should have been called club for growth, should have been called club for shrinking the middle class, club for shrinking the mod roerates of the republican party, that's what we have to q uas h. >> so many people think this campaign is about the economy and that's it. if that's the case, how do you explain the tea party candidates are getting so much enthusiasm and support? here you had people saying pat toomey could be the most conservative senator ever elected in pennsylvania, but yet you have the polls tied up. >> i'm actually the vice chairman of the small business committee. now, congressman toomey, and

people are becoming aware of this, when he was on the small business committee in the congress, helped to slash the small business administration loans in half and advocated and put in place a $3,000 fee. now, where do the working families work in pennsylvania? in small businesses, the majority of them. but here's what's of deep concern and is coming out. congressman toomey has said two things: one, eliminate all taxes for corporations, and second, take those social security savings and invest them in wall street and private ties, and worse than that, he then says, you know, it's okay that china subsidizes illegally its exports to america. that causes creative destruction and loss of jobs, but that's okay, the wealthy are benefitting. so we're making that very clear. >> congressman, real clear politics here has toomey up by nine points, and now that you have the president coming in,

the philadelphia inquirer suggested in june that the president's slumping improvement numbers themselves in pennsylvania actually helped you, because when he went out and endorsed arlen specter in the primary, philadelphia inquirer said, well, maybe that actually helped sestak win. are you afraid that the president's support could be a benefit, that somehow toomey could use that to his advantage? >> contessa, the only reason i'm standing here, and pennsylvanians know that, because i bucked the establishment because they were wrong in the primary and went for a republican senator. i'm here because i'm standing by their side. and goodness, i've never been that close to the polls this far out from an election. no, at the end of the day, contessa, really what's going to happen, the common sense of pennsylvanians will prevail. we know that congressman toomey

is a wolf in sheep's clothing. he actually advocated that we would have no rules over wall street and helped pass a law, but what's worse, he said the government should be pro-deficit spending. we just have to make sure the facts are clear. at the end of the day, he will be behind wall street's large corporations. i just have to make it clear, like i did in the primary, i didn't run for my congressional seat at the same time i did in the senate primary, because i want to make clear it's not about joe sestak's job, it's about investing in the opportunity of the average pennsylvanian. on. >> congressman joe sestak, always a pleasure to have you on. thank you, sir. breaking news from harlem and there you're getting the chopper shot of the fire underneath that bridge. this bridge is very important, pivotal, really, to the commute in and out of manhattan for system is

called there. this is four different lines that come over this bridge, and right now they're all stopped. you can see the fire boats now aiming their hoses at the pylons underneath the bridge. the wooden pylons apparently caught fire and as of now, service is suspended. quick break here. we'll be right back. amazing right from the faucet, but you think home filters can be a pain in the tucus. well check this out... boo-yah! shazam! h2...o! hydrolicious! look what i can do! magic bananas! adios contaminos! introducing the first faucet filter that installs with just one click and removes 99% of lead and microbial cysts. check it out at purwater.com. ♪ another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal.

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♪ introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid, specially formulated to fight morning pain and fatigue. ♪ so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. thousands of train passengers stuck right now because of the situation you're listening on serious radio, we're looking at a fire happening on the pylons bronx in manhattan. this is the main bridge that the metro train line uses to bring commuters in and out of grand central station, and apparently the flames ignited the wood on those pylons and the fire crew of new york now has their hoses trained. it looks like they succeeded in

extinguishing the immediate flames. the question is going to be, has there been significant damage to this bridge? if so, what does that mean for the train service of those some 270,000 commuters who come in and out of manhattan every day on this particular bridge? we'll let you know when that situation is resolved. police caught a registered sex offender wanted for questioning in the murder of a police chief's daughter. fbi and u.s. marshals arrested kneel harvey in new york. police believe he was the last person seen with 23-year-old valerie hamilton. she was found dead in a storage locker in california. >> our expectation, when we began in investigation thursday night, was that we would return this young lady to her family safe and sound as our expectation for every missing persons case. and, unfortunately, it didn't result in that.

>> the victim's father is concord police chief maesh hamilton. his name is weluzon. he now faces new attempted murder charges. he was trying to travel to israel. he is a suspect in two stabbings and a hammer attack in virginia as well as stabbings in ohio, but he's not been charged in those cases. if convicted on one of the charges in michigan, he faces life in prison with no parole. a new offering at an ohio school is billing itself as junk food. it comes from a vending mcachin. not quite what you'd expect, though. mason high school just installed an all-carrot vending machine. he's bag of carrots costs 50 cents. with me the principal of mason high school in cincinnati. how much business do you think

those machines are going to get? >> we don't know. it's causing a lot of buzz, that's for sure. >> i understand the machine was turned on friday. did you hear at all from the students ahead of this? i know it's sort of a two-month pilot machine. >> correct, it's a two-month pilot machine. we knew as early as may when they would come out and we would possibly be a part of this program. and, you know, now that the machine is in, it was about maybe an hour before the kids were actually buying these carrots. >> it's going to be a novelty, anyway, to be able to buy vegetables that come in what looks like a little snack pack. how important is just the look of it, the opportunity to go to the vending machine and put something in and get a little package of carrots out? >> well, i think it's very important. you know, we're all about nutrition at mason high school,

and one of the things about the pilot is they wanted it to be close to another snack vending machine to test whether or not the carrots were selling more than the other snacks. and, in fact, we've already -- we don't have another snack machine, so we had to put it next to some other coke machines and things like that. but our business department there at mason high school, they are a part of it and they're doing their own campaigning, and they're trying to see who sells the most carrots during that campaign. >> so it doesn't get a lot of competition, but honestly, it's kind of a novelty. if they put a carrot machine here at msnbc, i think you'd see a lot of people lining up to get it, too. good luck. >> thank you. how christine o'donnell responds to her comments in the past about witchcraft. macho men, you better pack up the bravado.

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let's show you the problem that affects thousands of commuters as we speak stranded in a train either north of this bridge in -- crossing from the bronx into manhattan or stuck at grand central station because of this fire. we're being told that a transformer actually started the fire. the flames hit the pylons, these wooden pylons underneath this bridge, and metro north told us no service right now. all service has been suspended. its four major train lines are now stuck. okay, rich pitoti joins me. he's with the new york city fire department -- a former new york city fire department chief. rich, when you see a transformer has ignited, flames are on a wooden pylon beneath a bridge,

what's your immediate concern? >> well, there's a few concerns. first of all, if the transformer still has power to it, there is problems of electrical shock and people being electrocuted. i'm assuming they put the power off. that's probably why the train traffic has stopped. once they do that, then they have to put out the fire, and then see if there is any type of damage that's done to the electrical gear, the third rail or anything else that could possibly be damaged by fire, wnbc is showing us right now some of the trains that are stuck in the bronx. it appears there are passengers now out on the train platform, and it looks -- or maybe this is harlem as well -- okay, it's harlem 125th street, they're telling me in my ear. it does appear that the flames have been extinguished on this. it's sort of the pylon that juts

out from the pillars of the bridge that sort of directs the the pillars. would you think the fact that the fire now appears to be extinguished, they're going to have to go in and look at the structure of the bridge and make sure it's safe to carry train traffic? >> yeah, i would -- again, not being there and just looking at what i'm seeing on television, i would assume the structure is going to be okay, but without a doubt, they'll get engineers to make that determination. on top of that, then they have to see if there is any damage done to the electrical service, the bridge itself to raise and lower the bridge, and that's where it's probably -- if it's involved, it's the service to raise and lower the bridge, not to actually operate the trains. but again, not being on the scene, i don't know. so if that's the case, then the bridge will just be stuck in the lower position and they won't be able to get boat traffic underneath it.

>> rich, thank you very much. and again, metro north says no train traffic as of now in and out of grand central station. there is going to be a lot of anxious commuters about this, because 270,000 people or so take these train lines every day to get in and out of the city. we'll stay on top of it. democrats are already using christine o'donnell in a campaign advertising, pointing to her many problems. but it may be even more damaging that she has admitted dabbling in witchcraft. bill maher released a ten-year-old clip of her talking about wictches and satanic rit you' uals. >> you're a witch? >> i dabbled in witchcraft and i hung around people who were doing these things. i'm not making this stuff up. i know what they told me they did. >> nbc news correspondent is in

washington. is this why she canceled those appearances on the talk shows? >> her campaign said no, that's not it. they said christine o'donnell was exhausted and triple booked, set to appear in a couple different places at the same time. so she passed on the sunday morning shows. what people may not realize is that is a very rare event, for a politician to cancel an appearance on a sunday morning panel show, and in washington circles, that is really thumbing your nose at the media establishment because that's just not done, so to speak. so she did that in some peril in terms of how she's perceived nationally. but what she opted to do was do an event in delaware. she appeared at the sussex county gop event and she did approach the witchcraft comments. she passed it off as something she did in high school. didn't everybody have friends that were a little different in high school?

and then she turned it into a joke saying if she were practicing witchcraft she would have turned karl rove into a supporter. so trying to use humor and saying not using the big opportunities was simply exhaustion. >> he's not going to kmechbt on that, he's going to talk about policy and how stark they are. i want to talk to you about someone just entering politics now and going for it in a big way. lady gaga is head to go maine and she's taking on one of her pet issues here. want to set it up for us? >> she is going to appear at a rally at a university in maine, and it's about don't ask, don't tell, the policy that would restrict gays from openly serving in the military. there is a bill expected to move legislature forward that would repeal that law. it is being led by john mccain, the republican senator of

arizona, so why maine? maine has two republican senators that are often a target of democrats to try to move them on votes that could be critical. so lady gaga says she will appear in maine as a way to encourage olympia snow and susan collins to vote with democrats to break the filibuster. >> i guess she gave up on mccain in arizona as a lost cause ask decided to focus on maine. appreciate that. paris hilton gets off with a plea deal from her drug possession case last month in las vegas. hilton will serve a year of unsupervised probation and complete a drug abuse program. and in case you missed it in the weekend coverage, lindsay lohan's fate is far less certain. she admitted over the weekend she failed a drug test. when tweeted about it, she said battling an addiction is a long process that can only happen over a period of time. now, the judge had told her there was no leniency there.

the judge busted randy quaid and his wife nor squatting. they struck a deal with prosecutors for skipping out on a hotel bill. be right back. the most powerful half-ton crew in america has a powertrain backed for 100,000 miles. chevy silverado half-ton a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0% apr for 72 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models with an average finance savings around $5,600. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. ben and his family live on this block.

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no matter how small their motivation may be. ♪ so stop by and get your flu shot today at walgreens. there's a way to stay well. a new study finds people living in a constant state of anxiety and stress are at increased risk for poor heart health. researchers say these type z personalities are more likely to suffer health problems, as well as depression. where are all the guys going? women, for the first time, out number men in the workplace. the future doesn't look all that

bright for macho men. in fact, there is an article in newsweek that says, "man up. it's time to rethink masculinity. in other words, a new look at what men are expected to do in the two realms, home and work, and that have always determined their worth. we have staff writer tony dokoupil. tony, set this up for me. we're looking at the hard facts for what a tough situation it is to be a man in this world. >> absolutely. 13 of the 15 jobs are going to grow over the next ten years. stick with me, i promise the economy is going to bounce back, and when it does, they're going to be adding workers that are traditionally female. so men need to essentially retrain or redefine the kind of work they're typically in. >> and the men who are already in these jobs right now are going to cringe at them being called female, but if you look at them, the new jobs we're

expecting by 2018, there will be 501,000 new teachers, 582,000 new registered nurses, 461,000 home health aides and 400,000 customer service reps. what about how family and jobs interact? where does, say, paternity leave make a difference for the new world that men have to get accustomed to? >> this is a big thing we talk about. the women are 50% of the work force and the men aren't pulling their weight at home. that isn't necessarily a choice they make. they may want to spend more time with their kids but aren't able to. if we change that relationship, men will be able to bond with their children from an early age. we're the only wealthy country in the world that doesn't have some form of this. >> but men can take pa terterni leave. are you just saying they don't? >> they take two weeks or less.

culturally, their employer is not comfortable with it. but in germany, sweden, places they have to take it or they lose the paid time off. >> does the new macho really affect one class more than others? for instance, blue collar workers, are they more at risk of this changing world? >> sure. a lot of jobs we're losing that are in decline right now are manufacturing jobs, mining jobs, construction jobs. >> really macho jobs. >> really macho jobs, and that's a problem going forward. if those jobs aren't there, the men who used to work in them are going to need to look elsewhere and we're going to have to expand our use of the word macho for the male kindergarten teacher. >> if you're talking to a guy who worked on the automotive manufacturing mine, how do you convince those guys to go into customer service or to go into being a home health aide?

>> i think you begin by saying, look, it's not an easy transition and it's all well and good for us to sit up here and say you should do it. but at the same time, what's a more masculine ideal, an unemployed, angry individual who is disconnected from their family or a man who is taking the job that's available to him and making -- contributing to the home 50% of the work? >> by the way, andrew, you mentioned that women still do the most at home. the average wife does double the household chores of the average husband, the women spend 400% more time with kids, and that's even when both parents work. how do you send the message, hey, guys, pick up the slack here. >> it needs to come from the wives, that's a big part of it, but with these policy changes, if men are given more leeway to stay at home and care for their kids, i think you'll see that change. a full day of politics ahead on msnbc with heavy hitters

stepping in to help candidates' causes. this afternoon, biden speaks at a rally at university of auckland. this evening president obama speaks at a reception in philadelphia for congressman joe sestak. sestak is in a tight senate race with republican pat toomey. words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help.

that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. [ female announcer ] start your morning... hey. what are you doing up? i thought i'd take a drive before work. want to come? [ female announcer ] or make his day. yeah. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop.

. breaking news out of manhattan where firefighters, it looks like, are getting the upper hand of a fire that hit a bridge going from the bronx. this is harlem now where the major train lines head into grand central station. the spokesperson for metro north tells me probably a couple thousand commuters are stuck right now, train service stopped. but they're looking at 270,000 people who take these trains every day that are going to be watching for that bridge to make

sure it's structurally sound before the train service gets back up and running. president obama is playing to a key group of supporters today. african-american voters who could make or break the mid-term elections. here's what he said to the congressional black caucus this weekend. >> i need everybody to go back to your neighborhoods, to go back to your workplaces, to go to churches and go to the barber shop and go to the beauty shop and tell them, we've got more work to do. >> mark morial is the president of the urban league. there were a brand new voters, minorities may be hispanic or african-american who for the first time went out and supported president obama. why is there concern now they won't show up for this election? >> because of enthusiasm. what existed in 2008 was history, enthusiasm, something very special. a fire that drove the turnout up. president obama is not on the ballot. people won't walk into the

voting booth and be able to vote for him. so it's a challenge of transferring this new enthusiasm, but i also think indicating what the alternative is. the alternative is the o'donnells, the rahm pauls, the sharon rangels, the rahm pauls who talk about repeeling important provisions of the civil rights act. >> you just handed me jobs, the state of black america. you have all these political insiders who say this is an election about jobs. if you're looking at black unemployment that is more than 16%, then why isn't this driving people and committing them now, something for their campaigns and promising them on election days they're going to be at the polls? >> i think the challenge for the president and his team is to articulate what the alternative would be. he's worked hard on jobs, he's worked hard on job creation, but what is the alternative agenda

and demonstrating the threat is perhaps those that would turn the clock back, those that would roll back things, those that would not be at all sensitive to the challenges of unemployment in urban communities. >> real quickly here, what role can african-american leaders play? >> let me just tell you about african-american and latino voters. 20% in california, 12% in colorado, 19% in illinois, 20% in florida. if you take black and latino voters, they are the hidden vote, the silent vote in this upcoming election. >> thapnks. that wraps up this hour for me and i appreciate when you watch as well. tomorrow we'll start with the u.n. general assembly here in manhattan and also the don't ask, don't tell policy. now we have andrea mitchell and congressman sally weiner. how do you stop this?

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reports in new york and stale mate in iran. iran's president arrived for the yearly showdown at the united nations. can they pressure ahmadinejad to release those two other american hikers? >> i stand before you today only one-third free. >> with us in her very first interview before addressing the united nations, u.s. ambassador susan wright. wait until you hear what tjimmyr has just said with our own brian williams. and sourcerer's apprentice? >> i dabbled in itwitchcraft, i hung around people who were doing these things. >> of course, as senate